MUMBAI | TUESDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2018 ECONOMY& PUBLIC AFFAIRS 5. <

AVISHEK RAKSHITKolkata, 24 September

India’s current trade in goodswithits neighbouring countries in theSouthAsian region is amere30.65

per cent of the potential trade of $62billion,whichcanbeboosted if restric-tionson thecurrent trade, suchas tar-iffs, port restrictions and other non-tariff barriers can be eased, a WorldBank report has said.

India’s trade inSouthAsiaaccountsfor $19.1 billion,which is just threepercent of its total global trade of $637.4billion and around $43 billion belowthe potential.

According toSanjayKathuria, leadeconomist at the World Bank, it ischeaper for India to import the sameset of goods from Brazil compared toPakistan, while for Sri Lanka orBangladesh, imports from Nepal aremore costly compared to Brazil,because of economic and non-eco-nomic barriers. The report indicatesthatwhile the tradebetweenIndiaandPakistan stands at $2 billion withoutany tradebarriers, this alone could go

up to$37billion,whichwill far exceedIndia’s current total trade with southAsian countries. Average tariffs insouth Asia in 2016 stood at 13.6 percent as against the global average tar-iff of 6.3 per cent.

“Despite significant liberalisationin tariff regimes, south Asian coun-tries still maintain a long list of prod-ucts,whichareexemptedfromthe tar-iff liberalisation programme while

several countries in this regionmain-tainhighparatariffs thathavenotbeenincluded inthe free tradeagreements,”Kathuria said.

According to Kathuria, liberalisa-tion of air services between India andSri Lanka is an example of how coun-tries stand to benefit from such aprocess. The other key non-tariffissues impacting trade are lack ofabsorbing the imported goods in a

consuming country, issues at the bor-ders and capacity of countries to pro-duce testing and certification centresfor exports.

BorderHaatAccording to the World Bank, Indiacome up with six more Border Haats(bordermarketplaces), taking the totalto 10 from the existing four.These haats, which are set-up on thezero line between India andBangladesh, are crucial towards trust-buildingmeasuresbetweenthebuyersand sellers from both India andBangladesh.

Currently, on the Indian sideof theborder, two such border haats arelocated in Meghalaya in Kalaichar inWestGaroHills andBalat inEastGaroHills,while another twoare inTripurain Srinagar and Kamalsagar.Although not featuring as a signifi-cant revenue contributor for eitherIndia or Bangladesh in their foreigntrade, suchweeklymarketplacesbringin people from both sides of the bor-der together and help in confidencebuildingmeasures.

$637.4billionIndia’stotaltradewiththeworld

$19.1billionIndia’stotaltradewithSouthAsia

Top3tradingpartnersinSouthAsiaforIndia–Bangladesh,SriLanka,Nepal

13.6%AverageTariffsinSouthAsia,whichisdoubletheworldaverageof6.3%

TRADE NUMBERS

India’s trade with neighbours only31% of total potential: World Bank

MonsoonwithdrawalfromSaturday:IMD

SANJEEB MUKHERJEENew Delhi, 24 September

Thesuddenincrease inrainfallintensity over northern andcentral parts of the country inthepast fewdayscould impactthe final yield of paddy infields where ‘lodging’ has tak-en place, say farm scientists.However, the exact quantumof the damage and extent ofthe loss will be ascertainedonlyafter aproperassessmentis done.

‘Lodging’ is bending overof crops — mainly cereals —near the ground level thatmakes them difficult to har-vest and leads to loweryields. It mainly occurs whenrains are accompanied by

heavy winds in excess of 25kmph. The standing cottoncrop has also been impactedin Punjab andHaryana.

In Central India, soybeanand pulses crops have alsobeen hit but government offi-cials said the loss isn’tmassiveas the showers were followedby relatively bri-ght sunshine thathelpedabsorbsoilmoisture. Farmergroups thoughdisputed theclaims, sayingalmost 10-15 percent of the crophasbeendestroyedintherains.

“Inpaddygrowing areas ofHaryana, Punjab andWesternUttarPradesh, therehavebeencomplaints of ‘lodging’ insome fields and yields mightgo down in them especially ifthecrop is inharvesting stage,while in those fieldswhere thecrophasn’t yetmatured, there

might not be any big damagebecause the stems are flexibleenough to resurrect after flat-tening,” K K Singh, head ofagromet division of IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) toldBusiness Standard.

“In western Uttar Pradeshdistricts of Baghpat, Meerut,

Muzzafarnagar,Mathuraandareassurrounding theYamuna river inHaryana, paddyfields have beenimpacted due tothe sudden rainsand heavy winds.

However, the exact extent ofdamageisyettobeascertained,”a senior scientist from a KrishiVikasKendra said.

As regards to soybean andpulses,SunilDuttBillore,direc-tor of Indore-based IndianInstitute of Soybean Research(IISR), said that so far theyhaven’treceivedinformationof

any big or large-scale damageto standing soybean crop fromanywhere in Madhya Pradeshbecause after few days of goodrains, the sky opened up tobright sunshine which shoulddryup the fields.

The retreating southwestmonsoon caused heavy rain inparts of northern, central andwesternIndiaovertheweekendunder the influence of a lowpressure area and cyclonicmovements.

AccordingtoaPTIreport,theshowers triggered flash floodsandlandslidesinthehillstatesofnorthernIndiawithatleasteightpeoplekilledonMondayinrain-relatedincidentsinJammuandKashmir,HimachalPradeshandHaryana.

The IMD, meanwhile, saidthatsouthwestmonsoonwouldstart withdrawing fromSeptember29,adelayofalmosta month from its usual with-drawaldate.

RaintoaffectpaddyyieldinnorthIndia

Southwest monsooncaused heavy rainsin parts of Northern,Central and WesternIndia over weekend

TheEDwill soonfileachargesheet under the anti-moneylaundering law against theSandesara brothers, wantedin an over ~50 billion allegedbank loan fraud case, pro-moters of a Gujarat-basedpharmaceutical company,officials saidonMonday.

The central probe agencywill seek Interpol red cornernotices (global arrest war-rants) against the brothersand other accused based onthis criminal complaint evenastheirexactlocationsremainunknown and changing —fromUAEtoNigeria, theoffi-cials said. The ED had filedfewchargesheets,calledpros-ecution complaints, in thiscase against other accused.The agency had registered aPMLA case against ChetanJayantilal Sandesara andNitin Jayantilal SandesaraandtheirSterlingBiotechandothersonOctober27,twodaysafter a case of alleged bankfraudof ~57billion. PTI

ED chargesheet againstGujarat-basedpharma firm

Advertorial

Dauntingas itmaybetermedbutAyushmanBharatis now a reality. A giant leap towards UniversalHealth by making healthcare easily affordable to

every individual at the grassroots; this National HealthProtectionMissionisoneof itskindsasit isworld’s largestgovernment-fundedhealthcareprogramme,bothintermsof size and magnitude.

The higher the ambition, more is the apprehensionand Ayushman Bharat is no exception.Honouring thefundamental rightsof itscitizens toadequatehealthcare,the Government of India did give healthcare the top pri-ority, but the journey is definitely not going to be a cake-walk.Weare talkingofprovidingadequatehealthcare tomillions of people and thus a number of questions relat-ing to infrastructure, management, fool-proof mecha-nisms and others cross the mind.

It was to dispel these clouds of apprehensions anddoubts that theBirla InstituteofManagementTechnolo-gy (BIMTECH) organized a round-table discussion onAyushmanBharat– NationalHealthProtection Mission– Opportunities & Challenges.The round-table was or-ganized at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on22 September, 2018.

The idea behind the round table, said Prof. (Dr) HChaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH, was to get answers tothe ifs and buts from the stalwarts of the healthcare in-dustry.This would help in making a blueprint as to howcan each one of us can contribute towards the vision ofAyushman Bharat. A good health system is primarilyjudged on its impact on better healthcare delivery sys-tem,equitabledistributionandmore importantly thecon-fidence of its people on its health system

TheSchemeaimstoadoptacontinuumofholisticap-proach to healthcare comprising two principal pillars –creation of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers acrossIndiaandsuccessful implementationofPradhanMantriJan Arogya yojana.

The out of pocket has a devastating effect on peoplewith lessmeans.AyushmanBharatcanreversethetrendof inversecareandimpoverishingcare.Marginalizedsec-tionof thepopulationsuffersa lot in theabsenceofsocialprotectionwhenconfrontedwithcatastrophichealthcareexpenses.67%healthcarefinancing in Indiacomesfromoutofpocketexpenditure. Insuchascenario, insurancecan play a vital role, said Alamelu T.Lakshmanachari,Chairman-cum-ManagingDirectorofAgriculture Insur-ance Company of India Limited.“Insurance can help inchanging the face of health and wellness of any state ornation as a whole”observed AlameluT.who also head-edthehealthportfolioofNewIndiaAssuranceCo.LtdasDirector and General Manager in her previous assign-ment. To explain her point she quoted the example ofTamilNaduChiefMinister’scomprehensivehealthschemethat grew from BPL level people to all state governmentstaff to all retired people.The sum insured grew from30,000to1.5 lakhto3 lakhs.Thisschemeledtostrength-eningthePrimaryHealthCenters thusstrengtheningtheentire structure of healthcare.

WhenaskedwhytheHealthcaresystem,thekeycon-

stituent of the architecture of contemporary Indian soci-ety is not performing as it should be, Denny John, Evi-denceSynthesisSpecialist,CampbellCollaborationsaidthat there is a need to strengthen the secondary care inIndiaaswithAyushmanBharat, therewillbemanifold in-crease in the number of healthcare seekers and the re-sources,and thepresentstructuresarenotgoodenoughto meet the needs.

Denny, who is also an Adjunct Scientist with the Na-tional InstituteofMedicalStatisticsandIndianCouncilofMedical Research opined that India’s public health sys-temneedtobestrengthenedtomeettheincreasinghealth-careneedsof itspopulation.Hewaspointingat thechal-lenges that may limit the success of the scheme.

There are not enough MBBS doctors and the num-berofnursesandparamedicsneedto increasemanifold.The referral system is not congenial in India, even forsmallailments like fever,wetend to run to thespecialistsunlike the western nations where these are dealt with atthe levels of nurses or primary care.So, the referral sys-temneedsa lotofchangesandmustemergeasapotentgatekeeper, opined the panel.

Bringinganewangleto thediscussion,KashipaHar-itstatedtheneedtodocument thepractices.Dr.Harit,As-sistant Director with NABH strongly felt that there wasnearabsenceofdocumentation.Documentationwastheonly way that will save the practices, the people and pa-tients.Theneed is tostrengthen theprocessesandalso

the documentation part.

OPPORTUNITIESASHAandAnganwadiworkerswoulddefinethehealth-

careprogression in ruralandremoteareasand indirect-ly boost the healthcare sector.As the coverage of insur-ance/protectiongrows,healthcareboundarieswouldex-pand.Thiswouldalsogenerateapoolofemploymentop-portunities as there would be a need of a huge numberof medical staff – especially the paramedics to executethe programme.Ayushman Bharat like NHS can alsoemerge as the biggest employer directly or indirectly indays to come - observed Prof. Abhijit Chattoraj of

BIMTECH.Another vertical that has already generated employ-

mentopportunities is the telephone-linesupportcenter.AsMs.Jaswal, currently, aseniorConsultantwithWorldBank in India explained that as the news is spreading,the helpline centers are receiving 1000s of calls wherepeoplearecurious toknowif theyarecovered, if theyarenot then how can they be covered.This apart, the bene-ficiariescanalsocall thehelplines to inquireaboutavail-ability of beds, treatments and facilities available in theirareas.Thesethousandsofcallsare indicativeof thehugeunmetdemandinthesectorandthusAyushmanhasgiv-en an opportunity to address these demands.

TECHNOLOGY – THE GAMECHANGERTaking the magnitude into consideration, 31 states andUnion territories are implementing the scheme.In such ascenario, technology plays a pivotal role in bridging thesupply and demand.Phonelines, national call centers,activation codes for enrollment, website, online databasefor vacancies, availabilities and consultation are definite-ly going to smoothen the process.

Better communication will facilitate high-tech meth-ods to cure diseases reach to all the health centers. Thewebsite also plays a major role when it comes to aware-ness. “The quality of healthcare is another challenge in

India.There is absence of evidence based medicine ortreatment.India also should develop an organization likeNICE, UK (National Institute of Health and clinical excel-lence) that can develop clinical guidance-based on rele-vance evidence of clinical effectiveness and cost effec-tiveness”, observed the panelists.

India’s Ayushman can transform the nation’s health-care system but for the challenges of medical staff-short-age, not enough doctors, fraudulent claims, corruptionwithin and outside medical boundaries and above all lowawareness.

AyushmanBharat isgoing togive a totally new businessmodel for insurance, whichwill be strengthening thescheme,wherewewillbeget-ting intomoreofwellness,pre-ventivesortof insuranceandthat’s what is the need today.

AlameluT.Lakshmanachari,Chairman-cum-Managing Director

Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd.

India’sHealthcareshouldbebuilt around thevaluesofPri-mary care. Government an-nounces that AyushmanBharatwill takecareof50-55crore people which is a verybold initiative and if imple-mentedproperly,canchangethe healthcare landscape of

India forever.Prof (Dr) Abhijit K Chattoraj,

Professor & ChairpersonProramme for Insurance Business

Management (PGDM-IBM), BIMTECH

AyushmanBharat is trying tochange the health seekingbehavior of the people. Theentire ecosystem of health-caregetsapushby inclusionof those who could not seekhealthcare because of fi-nancial constraints wouldnow be able to do so.

Ms.Malti Jaiswal,Senior Consultant,World Bank

Ayushman Bharat, thebiggest social securityscheme in theworld, isa rev-olutionary initiativeofGovt.ofIndia.Itwouldusher inaneraof better quality of life, socialpeace and security.

Dr.Harivansh Chaturvedi,Director – BIMTECH

QUOTEUNQUOTEAYUSHMAN BHARAT – TOWARDS A NEW

PARADIGM OF HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEM

Dignitaries at the round-table discussion on Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission – Opportunities & Challenges, organised byBirla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi.

DIPR/3900/Tender/2018 Chief General Manager (P&BD)

Chennai Metro rail liMited(A Joint Venture of Govt. of India and Govt. of Tamil Nadu)Admin Building, CMRL Depot, Poonamallee High Road,

Koyambedu, Chennai - 600107.

Contract Name Tender for Semi-Naming Rights in 31 CMRL MetroStations along Corridor-I & II of Phase-I

CMRL invites tender on single stage two packet system (Technical andFinancial) only through e-procurement bids on National CompetitiveBidding for the tender for "Semi-Naming Rights in 31 CMRL MetroStations along Corridor - I & II of Phase - I". (Ref Tender CMRL/BD/SNR/2018/490/01)Tender Documents can be downloaded from e-procurement website:E-Tender Publication date: 29/09/2018 (10:00 Hrs.), Last date of bid-submission: 09/11/2018 (15:00 Hrs.)For complete details, please visit e-procurement website:http://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/appAnyCorrigendum/Addendum to this publication, if any,would appear onlyon above mentioned website and will not be published in newspapers.Tender Authority: Chief GeneralManager (P&BD), ChennaiMetro Rail Limited,Admin Building, CMRL Depot, Poonamallee High Road, Koyambedu,Chennai - 600 107Phone 044-2379 2000.

NoTICe INVITING e-TeNDeR

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